[bborud]

I would be careful comparing low quality aircraft with cars and books. These things are more different than they are alike.

Also as someone pointed out: there are other aircraft than passenger aircraft. I live in a city with a hospital near the city centre. At all hours of the day helicopters take off and land there. Depending on where they have been, they follow different flight paths entering the city. Meaning that they cross through airspace trivially reachable by drones.

I've seen people fly drones over the river that runs by the hospital. Every time I see that I imagine the medical helicopter hitting a large drone and crash into the hospital. And I guess the pilots imagine this too.

[bambax]

Many, many people have argued that cars and, yes, books, would destroy civilization; and maybe they did, as they changed it beyond recognition.

But it's very annoying when a new technology gets opposed in the name of "safety". New things are dangerous, but usually less so than old things.

[rebootthesystem]

Where did I say drones would destroy civilization? Show me! Where?

That's the problem with some HN readers. Well, they don't read.

What the fuck?

All I said, by using years of flying hundreds of what people might call drones today in support of my statement, is that multicopters are being flown by people in complete disregard for the potential consequences of their actions. And that a system is already in place with rules and a code of conduct for model airplane enthusiasts to follow in the form of a model aircraft community with hundreds of years of history.

In the US most modelers fly under the umbrella AMA rules (and membership): http://www.modelaircraft.org/

This also means I (and other responsible modelers) carry a ONE MILLION DOLLAR insurance policy to cover potential injury and/or damage I may cause. People buying these damn DJI's take them out of the box and go fly them over people and property in completely irresponsible ways and don't even have the consideration to be insured.

As for cars. You know that thing called "road" and that thing called "stop light" and that thing called "rules of the road"? Them's rules. And people behave with reasonable courtesy and care while operating them. What is happening today with drones is the equivalent someone buying a car to then drive it on a busy beach, a park full of kids, your backyard, on the sidewalk, etc.

As for books, well, you are creating a false equivalency and make no sense at all.